No 1
(Genesis 3:15)
This is the first of many studies that
we will be doing on key passages of Scripture.
The Bible is a whole and each word was carefully placed as God willed it;
we will take certain passages and look at them closely. They will be presented as they appear in the
Bible and not necessarily in chronological order. I chose Genesis 3:15 to start because it sets
the stage for the whole redemptive plan of God. It reads: “And I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is a familiar passage and we know the
context. God is talking to Satan and is,
at the same time, placing a curse and a blessing on humanity. The curse is between Satan and the woman;
between his seed (unregenerate humanity) and her seed (Christ and all
believers). The blessing is that Jesus Christ will become the Saviour of those
who look to Him for their salvation (Hebrews
No 2
(Exodus 20)
This is probably
the most familiar passage in all of Scripture, the Ten Commandments: “3Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. 4 Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
7 Thou shalt not take the name of
the LORD thy God in vain 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that
thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt
not covet thy neighbour’s house thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor
his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” Once a man said
to Mark Twain, “I am going on a trip to
No 3A
(Genesis 49:10)
“The sceptre shall not depart from
No 3B (4)
(Genesis 49:10)
“The sceptre shall not depart from
I once purchased a book in the Jewish
sector of
No 5
(Psalm 66 :18)
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”
There are a
number of reasons why our prayers may seem to go unanswered and the presence of
unconfessed and unforsaken sin is often the cause. This possibility must always
be considered with all honesty before seeking another reason. The
Apostle James said “Ye ask, and receive
not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James
4:3). As born-again Christians, the
penalty for our sins was paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Therefore you
surmise : “if my sins are forgiven, why
should my prayers not be answered?”
The strongest reason is because we do not pray by the Spirit. All prayers that are heard by God are the
breathings of his own Spirit within us. “Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered” (Romans 8:26) As without the intercession of Christ we
cannot have our prayers accepted, so without the intercession of the Spirit we
cannot pray. In 1 John 1:9, the Bible tells
us that “If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” This verse is
intended for Christians; if we neglect to confess some sin in our life, how can
we expect the God of all righteousness to hear us?
In the New Testament, there is a similar
verse and it is specifically for husbands.
It is found in 1 Peter 3:7 “Likewise,
ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the
wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of
life; that your prayers be not hindered.”
Husbands are to include their wives in all their activities and
decisions; otherwise their prayers
will be hindered or not heard by God.
The key to having our prayers answered is obedience to God’s Word; it’s
as simple as that.
No 6
(Psalm 8:1, 9)
“O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in
all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens; O LORD our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth!” The beginning and the ending
of this Psalm suggest that it is a hymn of praise to the great Creator. The Creator’s divine signature is in all of
creation and the heavens demonstrate His omniscient power and infinite wisdom. Between these two similar verses we are
confronted with the fact that the Psalm is exposing Jesus’ creative
genius. We encounter the phrase “son of man” in verse 4 of the
Psalm. When the Lord Jesus Christ was on
earth, He used this term for Himself no less than 80 times in the New
Testament. So it could be said that this
Psalm speaks of the excellence of Jesus Christ.
Jesus taught
that the scriptures spoke of Him and we read in John
No 7
(Proverbs 9:10)
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of
the holy is understanding.” Here is a verse that sums up how a believer ought
to comprehend the relationship that God has with believers; it applies to new
believers as well as mature believers.
Wisdom is something that is acquired through time and experience with
the Lord. The new believer starting out
has much to learn about God but if he or she is willing to obey the Word of the
Lord, wisdom will be the end result. The
mature believer knows through experience that God blesses those who obey His
Word; here, wisdom is the by-product of obedience. Acquiring wisdom is similar to growing up;
all the times we heard “don’t do that” just don’t accomplish what experience can do
for a person. The Apostle Paul encouraged the Colossians in wisdom when he
wrote to them “ Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus:” (
No 8
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 to 8)
“1 To every thing there is a
season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time
to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to
heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to
laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to
lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to
sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to
hate; a time of war, and a time of peace”
These words were undoubtedly written by
Solomon as he examined the Lord’s sovereign design and concluded that all the
events of life are divinely appointed.
God appoints seasons and times because earthly pursuits are acceptable
in their proper perspective but are unprofitable when they are pursued as the
chief goal in life. All through this
book, we often read the words “vanity of
vanities; all is vanity” Although
Solomon had been given much wisdom by God at the beginning of his reign (1
Kings 4:29), during his life he chose to indulge in many sinful habits. It is safe to say that this book was written
towards the end of his life and that his involvement in earthly matters had
left him bitter and discontent. This
passage was written many thousands of years ago but it is still very timely for
our lives to day.
God gives us the liberty of choosing
what path to take; Solomon had that same choice. The book of Ecclesiastes ends
with a word of advice from Solomon “Let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl
12:13)
No 9
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity
in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning
to end.”
This is one of my most beloved passages
in Scripture. It was written by Solomon
who had seen everything the world had to offer at the time and, yet, he still
could not see the whole spectrum of God’s providence; he penned these words
towards the end of his life and saw that everything was vanity of vanities. He had
come to the realisation that God had placed a yearning in his heart that could
not be satisfied by earthly means.
This passage is like as if the Lord
wants us to search Him out just by the fact that we are alive and that there is
this longing in our hearts for things spiritual. A story is told about a tribal chief in
Africa who was walking in the jungle one day and saw a beautiful blue flower;
probably a orchid. He said to himself “I would like to meet the God who made this
flower.” A few weeks later, a
missionary showed up in the chief’s village and began to speak of the God of
the Bible. Immediately, the chief said “Heh, that’s the God of the blue flower!” The missionary had probably spoken of God’s
creation and this had evoked the chief’s thoughts of the blue flower and his
desire to know its creator. The
missionary asked what he meant and the chief explained his story; the Lord had
awakened his heart to search out spiritual comfort and the Lord was faithful. The whole tribe became believers right on the
spot because of the chief’s decision.
It is my conviction that if someone
seeks to know the Lord with a true heart, He will arrange for someone like the
missionary to cross this person’s path; a bit like the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts
8:27. The Holy Spirit seeks and finds
souls who are ready to hear the Gospel; it’s up to us as Christians to “Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason
No 10
(Isaiah 53)
This very familiar passage that speaks
of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the cross is well known to all true
Christians; the narrative actually begins in chapter 52 verses 14, 15. We read in verse 5 “…but he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.”
There is no doubt whatsoever that Isaiah was predicting that Jesus
Christ would come and receive the punishment for all of mankind’s sins; Jews
included, lest we forget that these verses were written to the Jews, God’s
chosen people hundreds of years before He came to earth. At this time, the Jews were a stiff-necked
and rebellious people; they were idolatrous and disobedient but still God loved
them.
Many Jews have come to Jesus Christ for
their salvation by reading this passage not having read it before. They hadn’t
read it before because it has been left out of the Table of Scriptural
Readings. You see, there are
readings of the Bible (Old Testament) in Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath and
on special holydays (Yom Kippur, Purim, Passover, etc). This passage is never read and hardly any
Jews read the Bible at home because they are encouraged to read the Talmud
(writings of past rabbis) and are absorbed in the traditions and the ceremonies
of the religion. Therefore, if
Christians are to lead Jews to the Lord Jesus Christ, they must utilize this
passage just as Philip did in Acts 8:32, 33 when he spoke to the Ethiopian
eunuch. The eunuch wanted to know of
whom this passage spoke and the text reads
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and
began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” (v35) May we be
as Philip – ready to confess Jesus when opportunities are given us.